We have a problem

[CatOne]

But one child at least, Ivy Blanche, was registered with the Newick surname  Could Wiliam have been married to Jane, but also having a dalliance with Lois, who was either widowed/deserted by a Mr Milne?? 

[CatOne]

Is this Lois's remarriage?

Lois R Newick March 1918 Leicester Vol 7a Page 474
Groom - Charles Walker

[Willow 4873]

But one child at least, Ivy Blanche, was registered with the Newick surname  Could Wiliam have been married to Jane, but also having a dalliance with Lois, who was either widowed/deserted by a Mr Milne?? 

Seems to be pointing that way. The problem is I cant find any of the other childrens births registered under ANY surname. Thank goodness they have several names

Wellspotted CatOne

Willow x

[sft456]

The point is that a lot is happening in a short space of time:

1 In 1891 William and Jane are recorded as a 40 year old working couple
2 In 1892 Ivy Blanche L Newick is born
3 In 1893 William Christmas Newick is born
4 In 1895 Louis Wilfred Newick is born
5 In 1897 Frederick Victor Newick is born
6 In 1898 Jane dies
7 In 1903 William dies

Somewhere amongst these goings on Lois R Duckworth is linked with William (she marries again in 1918), though I have never seen a 1901 Census record of them all as a family

As far as the family is concerned, these children and their descendants have never been anything else but Newicks. I am not aware of anyone called Milne.

The other problem is that William is almost twice the age of Lois. She couldn't have been married before marrying him (she was only 20 in 1892). Neither can she have been dallying with him behind Jane's back (it's not possible to have 4 children in this way!)

My guess is that they are Jane's children and that Lois took them on after her death - but then why would a young girl get involved with a much older man? Pehaps she never actually married him (why no record can be found). Perhaps She was taken on as a full time live in nanny. Of course after his death she had to bring them up on her own (not expecting this to have happened)

Finally in Louis Wilfred's (second son) memoirs, he constantly refers to his mother as Lois. Jane is never mentioned - perhaps no one ever told them! He also mentions his father residin in Norwich tempoarily on business (Lois is presumably at home with the ids). He dies in 1903 of exhaustion through his job

We are still guessing to a large extent. Surely the children's birth Certificates should give the parents names. Is this info not available on-line?

[Tati]

Sft -  you need to order Ivy's birth cert to find out.
The info isn't available online - you need to order the cert from http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ 


The family are definitely down as Milne in 1901, and the children are recorded as being Lois' (William isn't living with the family):

1901
RG13/2976 7 6
Loughborough, Leicestershire
109 Storer Rd
Lois Rebecca Milne, head, mar, 28, b. Leicestershire Leicester
Ivy Blanche do., dau, 9, b. b. Belgrave
William Christmas Louis do., son, 8, b. Loughborough
Louis Welfred Gladstone do., son, 6, b. do.
Frederick Victor Harcourt do. son, 3, b. do.

Did you find Louis' registration in the name Newick? 

[Willow 4873]

Hiya Sft456

It is possible the enumerator put down Milne instead of Newick and that is what has caused this confusion

As Tati says it may be a case of ordering the certificate to clear this up. It might be worth putting a post on the Leicestershire board with a link to this post to see if someone can look in the parish records for the marriage and childrens baptisms

Willow x

[sft456]

Hello Tati

I have never seen this 1901 Census record (no mention of this on Ancestry). None of us have ever heard the name Milne. These children, their decendents and Lois have always been known as Newick. In fact Lois marriage record of 1918 to Charles Walker has her down as Newick, also Ivy's birth and Louis's death record.......so just who is this Milne

However this still doesn't solve this riddle (see my length diatribe above) in fact the plot thickens

During the 1901 Census taking William is lodging temporarily in Norwich as a commercial traveller for a Nottingham printing firm

Incidently thanks for this record. Do you have date of birth details for the children?

[avm228]

I have never seen this 1901 Census record (no mention of this on Ancestry).

The 1901 census record in the name Milne is indeed on Ancestry.  It quite plainly gives the surname for Lois Rebecca as Milne.  The children are dittoed as Milne. Their given names so perfectly match the family you listed in your first post that it must be them.

Why Lois gave the surname as Milne is obviously still a mystery - but I find it hard to think that it could be a mistranscription (from household schedules) or misenumeration of Newick.  The names are just too different for this to be realistic.  For whatever reason, I think we must conclude that Lois gave the name Milne or something looking/sounding like Milne for the purposes of the census in 1901.

I also find it hard to subscribe to the theory that the four children were all Jane's and then taken on by Lois.  Jane was childless aged 30 in 1881 (after over 8 years of marriage) and aged 40 in 1891 (after over 18 years of marriage).  She does not seem to have lost children in infancy, at least not children whose births or deaths were registered.  There are no BMD records at all, currently on FreeBMD, for the surname Newick in Leicester at any time before the birth of Ivy Blanche in 1892 (William and Jane were in Leicester in both 1881 and 1891). 

Given that background I do think it would be virtually miraculous if Jane gave birth to all of the following: Ivy at about age 42, William at about age 43, Louis at about age 45 and Frederick at about age 48.

The plot certainly thickens!  Added to the mystery is the apparent complete absence of civil records of the births of any of the three boys - not just on FreeBMD but on the complete indexes. I have searched under Newick, Duckworth, Milne and (out of desperation) the boys' middle names Christmas, Gladstone and Harcourt.  No joy

Anna

[Vonny]

Also the 1901 census entry for William Newick shows him as widowed 

RG13
Piece 1840
Folio 46
Page 42